The invention relates to the use of yneS, an essential bacterial gene, in identifying antibacterial agents.
Bacterial infections may be cutaneous, subcutaneous, or systemic. Opportunistic bacterial infections proliferate, especially in patients afflicted with AIDS or other diseases that compromise the immune system. Most bacteria that are pathogenic to humans are gram positive bacteria. The bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae, for example, typically infects the respiratory tract and can cause lobar pneumonia, as well as meningitis, sinusitis, and other infections.
The invention is based on the discovery that the yneS gene of the gram positive bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae, termed xe2x80x9cS-yneS,xe2x80x9d and of Bacillus subtilus, termed xe2x80x9cB-yneS,xe2x80x9d are essential for survival. The terms xe2x80x9cyneS genexe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cyneS polypeptidexe2x80x9d refer to the S-yneS and B-yneS genes, as well as their homologs and orthologs, collectively. While xe2x80x9chomologsxe2x80x9d are structurally similar genes contained within a species, xe2x80x9corthologsxe2x80x9d are functionally equivalent genes from other species (within or outside of a given genus). The yneS gene is considered an xe2x80x9cessentialxe2x80x9d gene, and the yneS polypeptide is considered an xe2x80x9cessentialxe2x80x9d polypeptide. A yneS gene and polypeptide can be used in methods for identifying similar genes in pathogenic and non-pathogenic microorganisms. A yneS polypeptide can be used to identify compounds that are inhibitors of the pathogens in which the yneS polypeptide is expressed. Such inhibitors attenuate bacterial growth by inhibiting the activity of a yneS polypeptide, or by inhibiting transcription of a yneS gene or translation of the mRNA transcribed from the yneS gene.
The amino acid and nucleic acid sequences of S-yneS are set forth in FIG. 1 as SEQ ID NOs:1 and 2, respectively. The amino acid and nucleic acid sequences of B-yneS are set forth in FIG. 2 as SEQ ID NOs:3 and 4, respectively.
Now that the yneS gene has been identified and shown to be essential for survival, the yneS gene and polypeptide (including homologs and orthologs of the sequences disclosed herein) can be used to identify antibacterial agents. Such antibacterial agents can readily be identified with high throughput assays to detect inhibition of the metabolic pathway in which the yneS polypeptide participates. This inhibition can be caused by small molecules interacting with (e.g., binding directly or indirectly to) the yneS polypeptide or other essential polypeptides in that pathway.
In an exemplary assay, but not the only assay, a promoter that responds to depletion of the essential yneS polypeptide by upregulation or downregulation is linked to a reporter gene. To identify a promoter that is up- or down-regulated by the depletion of a yneS protein, the gene encoding the yneS protein is deleted from the genome and replaced with a version of the gene in which the sequence encoding the yneS protein is operably linked to a regulatable promoter. The cells containing this regulatable genetic construct are kept alive by the essential yneS polypeptide produced from the genetic construct containing the regulatable promoter. However, the regulatable promoter allows the expression of the yneS polypeptide to be reduced to a level that causes growth inhibition. Total RNA prepared from bacteria under such growth-limiting conditions is compared with RNA from wild-type cells. Standard methods of transcriptional profiling can be used to identify mRNA species that are either more or less abundant (i.e., up- or down-regulated) when expressed under the limiting conditions. Genomic sequence information, e.g., from GenBank, can be used to identify a promoter that drives expression of the identified RNA species. Such promoters are up- or down-regulated by depletion of the yneS polypeptide.
Having identified a promoter(s) that is up- or down-regulated by depletion of the yneS polypeptide, the promoter(s) is operably linked to a reporter gene (e.g., xcex2-galactosidase, gus, or green fluorescent protein (GFP)). A bacterial strain containing this reporter gene construct is then exposed to test compounds. Compounds that inhibit the yneS polypeptide (or other polypeptides in the essential pathway in which the yneS polypeptide participates) will cause a functional depletion of the yneS polypeptide and therefore lead to an upregulation or downregulation of expression of the reporter gene. Because the polypeptides described herein are essential for the survival of bacteria, compounds that inhibit the yneS polypeptides in such an assay are expected to be antibacterial and can be further tested, if desired, in standard susceptibility assays.
Another suitable method for identifying antibacterial compounds involves screening for small molecules that specifically interact with (i.e., bind directly or indirectly to) the essential yneS polypeptide. A variety of suitable interaction and binding assays are known in the art as described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,585,277 and 5,679,582, incorporated herein by reference. For example, in various conventional assays, test compounds can be assayed for their ability to interact with a yneS polypeptide by measuring the ability of the small molecule to stabilize the yneS polypeptide in its folded, rather than unfolded, state. More specifically, one can measure the degree of protection against unfolding that is afforded by the test compound. Test compounds that bind the yneS polypeptide with high affinity cause, for example, a large shift in the temperature at which the polypeptide is denatured. Test compounds that stabilize the yneS polypeptide in a folded state can be further tested for antibacterial activity in a standard susceptibility assay.
In a related method for identifying antibacterial compounds, the essential yneS polypeptide is used to isolate peptide or nucleic acid ligands that specifically bind the yneS polypeptide. These peptide or nucleic acid ligands are then used in a displacement screen to identify small molecules that interact with the yneS polypeptide. Such assays can be carried out essentially as described above.
Another suitable method for identifying inhibitors of the essential yneS polypeptide involves identifying a biochemical activity of the polypeptide and then screening for small molecule inhibitors of the activity using, for example, a high throughput screening method.
The various yneS polypeptides can be used, separately or together, in assays to identify test compounds that interact with these polypeptides. Test compounds that interact with these polypeptides then can readily be tested, in conventional assays, for their ability to inhibit bacterial growth. Test compounds that interact with the yneS polypeptides are candidate antibacterial agents, in contrast to compounds that do not interact with the yneS polypeptides. As described herein, any of a variety of art-known methods can be used to assay for the interaction of test compounds with the yneS polypeptides.
The invention also includes a method for identifying an antibacterial agent where the method entails: (a) contacting an essential yneS polypeptide with a test compound; (b) detecting binding of the test compound to the polypeptide; and, optionally, (c) determining whether a test compound that binds to the yneS polypeptide inhibits growth of bacteria, relative to growth of bacteria cultured in the absence of the test compound that binds to the yneS polyepeptide, as an indication that the test compound is an antibacterial agent.
In still another method, interaction of a test compound with a yneS polypeptide (e.g., binding) can be detected in a conventional two-hybrid system for detecting protein/protein interactions (e.g., in yeast or mammalian cells). A test compound found to interact with the yneS polypeptide can be further tested for antibacterial activity in a conventional susceptibility assay. Generally, in such two-hybrid methods, (a) the yneS polypeptide is provided as a fusion protein that includes the polypeptide fused to (i) a transcription activation domain of a transcription factor or (ii) a DNA-binding domain of a transcription factor; (b) the test polypeptide is provided as a fusion protein that includes the test polypeptide fused to (i) a transcription activation domain of a transcription factor or (ii) a DNA-binding domain of a transcription factor; and (c) binding of the test polypeptide to the polypeptide is detected as a reconstitution of a transcription factor. Homologs and orthologs of S-yneS and B-yneS polypeptide described herein can be used in such methods. Reconstitution of the transcription factor can be detected, for example, by detecting transcription of a gene that is operably linked to a DNA sequence bound by the DNA-binding domain of the reconstituted transcription factor (See, for example, White, 1996, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 93:10001-10003 and references cited therein and Vidal et al., 1996, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 93:10315-10320).
In an alternative method, an isolated nucleic acid molecule encoding a yneS polypeptide is used to identify a compound that decreases the expression of a yneS polypeptide in vivo (i.e., in a cell). Such compounds can be used as antibacterial agents. To discover such compounds, cells that express a yneS polypeptide are cultured, exposed to a test compound (or a mixture of test compounds), and the level of expression or activity is compared with the level of yneS polypeptide expression or activity in cells that are otherwise identical but that have not been exposed to the test compound(s). Many standard quantitative assays of gene expression can be utilized in this aspect of the invention.
To identify compounds that modulate expression of a yneS polypeptide, the test compound(s) can be added at varying concentrations to the culture medium of cells that express a yneS polypeptide, as described herein. Such test compounds can include small molecules (typically, non-protein, non-polysaccharide chemical entities), polypeptides, and nucleic acids. The expression of the yneS polypeptide is then measured, for example, by Northern blot PCR analysis or RNAse protection analyses using a nucleic acid molecule described herein as a probe. The level of expression in the presence of the test molecule, compared with the level of expression in its absence, will indicate whether or not the test molecule alters the expression of the yneS polypeptide. Because the yneS polypeptides (including homologs and orthologs of the sequences disclosed herein) are essential for survival, test compounds that inhibit the expression and/or function of the yneS polypeptide will inhibit growth of, or kill, the cells that express such yneS polypeptides.
Typically, the test compound will be a small organic molecule. Alternatively, the test compound can be a test polypeptide (e.g., a polypeptide having a random or predetermined amino acid sequence; or a naturally-occurring or synthetic polypeptide) or a nucleic acid, such as a DNA or RNA molecule. The test compound can be a naturally-occurring compound or it can be synthetically produced, if desired. Synthetic libraries, chemical libraries, and the like can be screened to identify compounds that bind the yneS polypeptide. More generally, binding of test a compound to the yneS polypeptide can be detected either in vitro or in vivo. If desired, the above-described methods for identifying compounds that modulate the expression of yneS polypeptides can be combined with measuring the levels of the yneS polypeptides expressed in the cells, e.g., by performing a Western blot analysis using antibodies that bind a yneS polypeptide.
Regardless of the source of the test compound, the yneS polypeptides described herein can be used to identify compounds that inhibit the activity of a yneS protein or transcription of a yneS gene or translation of the mRNA transcribed from the yneS gene. These antibacterial agents can be used to inhibit a wide spectrum of pathogenic or non-pathogenic bacterial strains, particularly gram-positive bacteria.
In other embodiments, the invention includes pharmaceutical formulations that include a pharmaceutically acceptable excipient and an antibacterial agent identified using the methods described herein. In particular, the invention includes pharmaceutical formulations that contain antibacterial agents that inhibit the growth of, or kill, pathogenic bacterial strains (e.g., pathogenic gram positive bacterial strains such as pathogenic Streptococcus strains). Such pharmaceutical formulations can be used in a method of treating a bacterial infection in an organism (e.g., a Streptococcus infection). Such a method entails administering to the organism a therapeutically effective amount of the pharmaceutical formulation, i.e., an amount sufficient to ameliorate signs and/or symptoms of the bacterial infection. In particular, such pharmaceutical formulations can be used to treat bacterial infections in mammals such as humans and domesticated mammals (e.g., cows, pigs, dogs, and cats), and in plants. The efficacy of such antibacterial agents in humans can be estimated in an animal model system well known to those of skill in the art (e.g., mouse and rabbit model systems of, for example, streptococcal pneumonia).
Various affinity reagents that are permeable to the microbial membrane (i.e., antibodies and antibody fragments) are useful in practicing the methods of the invention. For example polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies that specifically bind to the yneS polypeptide can facilitate detection of yneS polypeptides in various bacterial strains (or extracts thereof). These antibodies also are useful for detecting binding of a test compound to yneS polypeptides (e.g., using the assays described herein). In addition, monoclonal antibodies that bind yneS polypeptides can themselves be used as antibacterial agents.
The invention further features methods of identifying from a large group of mutant strains those strains that have conditional lethal mutations. In general, the gene and corresponding gene product are subsequently identified, although the strains themselves can be used in screening or diagnostic assays. The mechanism(s) of action for the identified genes and gene products provide a rational basis for the design of antibacterial therapeutic agents. These antibacterial agents reduce the action of the gene product in a wild type strain, and therefore are useful in treating a subject with that type, or a similarly susceptible type, of infection by administering the agent to the subject in a pharmaceutically effective amount. Reduction in the action of the gene product includes competitive inhibition of the gene product for the active site of an enzyme or receptor; non-competitive inhibition; disrupting an intracellular cascade path which requires the gene product; binding to the gene product itself, before or after post-translational processing; and acting as a gene product mimetic, thereby down-regulating the activity. Therapeutic agents include monoclonal antibodies raised against the gene product.
Furthermore, the presence of the gene sequence in certain cells (e.g., a pathogenic bacterium of the same genus or similar species), and the absence or divergence of the sequence in host cells can be determined, if desired. Therapeutic agents directed toward genes or gene products that are not present in the host have several advantages, including fewer side effects, and lower overall dosage.
In various embodiments, the yneS polypeptide used in the assays described herein is derived from a non-pathogenic or pathogenic gram positive bacterium. For example, a yneS polypeptide can be derived from a Streptococcus strain, such as Streptococcus pneumoniae, Streptococcus pyogenes, Streptococcus agalactiae, Streptococcus endocarditis, Streptococcus faecium, Streptococcus sangus, Streptococcus viridans, and Streptococcus hemolyticus. Suitable orthologs of the S-yneS gene can be derived from a wide spectrum of bacteria, such as Bacillus subtilis and E. coli. 
The invention offers several advantages. For example, the methods for identifying antibacterial agents can be configured for high throughput screening of numerous candidate antibacterial agents. Because the essential yneS gene disclosed herein is thought to be highly conserved, antibacterial drugs targeted to this gene or its gene products are expected to have a broad spectrum of antibacterial activity.
Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Although methods and materials similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of the present invention, suitable methods and materials are described herein. All publications, patent applications, patents, and other references mentioned herein are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. In the case of a conflict, the present specification, including definitions, will control. In addition, the materials, methods, and examples are illustrative and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention, which is defined by the claims.
Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description, and from the claims.